Friday, May 3, 2013

6 comments:

I thought I was listening to a Welcome Back Kotter rerun, the guy sounds like Gabe Kaplan. Unfortunately for the guest and all his dire predictions the Methane levels are not increasing as he inferred but rather decreasing http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/earth20120828.html, the world is more likely to end from our government and their actions rather than farting cows or your SUV. Most methane occurs naturally from wetlands and it would not be difficult to convert this substance to another fuel. I believe that most of the "Climate Change" is occurring due to the weakening of the magnetic core which in turn is allowing the earth's crust to shift 40 miles a year SSW and the rate is increasing which in turn is exposing some of the arctic to more sunlight and other areas to colder seasons, which is exactly what is happening. Funny but these same people complaining about methane want to preserve and increase wetland areas, the largest producer of methane. I can't even say that you mean well with your malthusian opinion of humanity.

Writing from a cold Deep South city in the midst of May, I'm inclined to agree with Joseph. What's most frightening to me is the destruction of the top soil at the hands of corporate agribusiness--here, in Europe, and in countries where the World Bank controls agricultural policies. There has to be a shift away from the corporate agribusiness model and toward a rapid funding of rural co-operatives if the food supply is to meet increased needs. Independent farmers, using advanced but sustainable methods, can be trusted to preserve the top soil, whereas corporate managers with their eyes on profit margins--and literally nothing else--simply can't. Unfortunately, the agribusiness corporations will only increase their control under the current system. The decaying state of agriculture, like that of other aspects of the infrastructure, cries out for a thoroughgoing social revolution.

By the way, I've changed my avatar because I discovered that the one I was using was actually a portrait of Sylvain Maréchal, a co-conspirator of Babeuf's in the Conspiracy of Equals, instead of François-Noël "Gracchus" Babeuf himself, which I'd intended.

Years ago the first Bush President declared "global warming" to be ridiculous, a plot of the conspiracy theorists. At about the same time, a man who would eventually become the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, declared the theories about global warming to be a "socialist plot". Many other world leaders were saying similar things. But then suddenly, as if by magic, in the twinkling of an eye, all of these world leaders changed their tunes and became extremely serious environmentalist with the collective opinion that the only way to solve the problem is to carbon tax our backsides off.

as to the comments, i love the smell of cognitive dissonance in the morning.

Elsis is reporting well established facts, with the trends long known.

as to the arctic methane, the russians made public a survey last year or two, when a small expedition noted methane (clathrate) boils extending over the surface of the arctic ocean as far as they could see.